UK Parliamentarians
call for "very radical shift in thinking" on immigration
detention03.03.2015An
inquiry conducted by MPs and Lords from the UK's three major
political parties (Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative)
has concluded that "a very radical shift in thinking"
is required on immigration detention. The report makes four "key
recommendations":

"There should be a time limit of
28 days on the length of time anyone can be held in immigration
detention" (currently, the UK has an indefinite detention
period, meaning that some people are detained for years);

"Detention is currently used disproportionately
frequently, resulting in too many instances of detention. The
presumption in theory and practice should be in favour of community-based
resolution and against detention";

"Decisions to detain should be very
rare and detention should be for the shortest time possible and
only to effect removal";

"The Government should learn from
international best practice and introduce a much wider range
of alternatives to detention than are currently used in the UK."

Between July and October 2014 the inquiry,
launched by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees and
the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration, received 182
submission of written evidence and held three oral evidence sessions.
Members of the inquiry also visited detention centres and the
Swedish Migration Board.

The inquiry's press release is reproduced
below. Notably, it uses language ("time for a time limit")
used by
NGOs and campaign groups working on the issue of detention,
who have long called for changes to the immigration detention
system that have now appeared as recommendations made in the
report.

The recommendations have no binding power,
but the foreword says the report should "provide political
courage to whoever wins the general election to look in detail
at the way we use immigration detention."

Time For a Time Limit  Parliamentarians
call for a 28 day maximum time limit on immigration detention
to be introduced

A cross-party group of MPs and Peers
has recommended that the next government should introduce a maximum
time limit of 28 days on the length of time anyone can be detained
in immigration detention. The call
comes in a report published today following a joint inquiry into
the use of immigration detention in the UK by the APPG on Refugees
and the APPG on Migration.

The panel, which included a former Cabinet
Minister, a former Chief Inspector of Prisons, and a former law
lord, considered evidence over 8 months, and three panel members
visited the Swedish Migration Board to discuss with officials
and parliamentarians the role detention plays in the Swedish
immigration system.

The inquiry panel conclude that the enforcement-focused
culture of the Home Office means that official guidance, which
states that detention should be used sparingly and for the shortest
possible time, is not being followed, resulting in too many instances
of unnecessary detention.

The panel recommend that the UK government
should learn from best practice abroad where alternatives to
detention are used, which not only allow individuals to live
in the community, but which also allow the government to maintain
immigration control at a much lower cost to the state.

The panel argues that depriving an individual
of their liberty for the purposes of immigration detention should
be an absolute last resort and only used to effect removal.

The UK is the only country in the European
Union not to have an upper time limit on detention, and the panel
conclude that the lack of a time limit has significant mental
health costs for detainees, as well as considerable financial
costs to the taxpayer.

The panel also:

recommend that there should be a presumption
in favour of community-based resolutions, which focus on intensive
engagement with individuals in community settings, rather than
relying on enforcement and detention;

conclude that the Detained Fast Track
does not allow asylum seekers to receive the support they need
and is not conducive to high quality decision making;

are concerned that individuals being held
under immigration powers are increasingly being held in conditions
tantamount to high security prison settings;

recommend that women who are victims of
rape and sexual violence should not be detained and that pregnant
women should never be detained for immigration purposes;

were shocked by the personal testimony
they heard of people suffering from mental health conditions
who were detained for prolonged periods of time and conclude
that current Home Office policy puts the health of detainees
at serious risk;

recommend that screening processes are
improved to ensure that victims of trafficking are not detained
and that when GPs complete a Rule 35 report they make a clinical
judgement over whether any injuries are consistent with the account
of torture; and

are concerned that current arrangements
for challenging continued detention are not working and that
many individuals in detention are unable to access high quality
legal advice.

The UK is an outlier in not having
a time limit on detention. During the inquiry, we heard about
the huge uncertainty this causes people to live with, not knowing
if tomorrow they will be released, removed from the country,
or continue being in detention.

As a panel, we have concluded
that the current system is expensive, ineffective and unjust.
We are calling the next Government to learn from the alternatives
to detention that focus on engagement with individuals in their
communities, rather than relying on enforcement and deprivation
of liberty.

Current Home Office policy is
that detention should be used as a last resort and for the shortest
possible time. From the evidence that we heard, Home Office standard
practice falls well short of this policy.

In our report, we recommend that
far fewer people should be detained, that detention should always
be a last resort, and that it should only ever be for a maximum
of 28 days. Other countries manage to maintain immigration control
without resorting to indefinite detention. So can we.

David Burrowes MP, a member of the inquiry
panel and Conservative MP for Enfield Southgate, said:

This inquiry is an unusual one.
Immigration is on the political agenda but rarely do we unite
on a cross party basis and consider the issue of immigration
detention.

The lack of a time limit is resulting
in people being locked up for months and, in some cases, several
years purely for administrative reasons. While there is a need
to properly control our borders, people who arrive by fair means
or foul must also be treated with dignity and respect throughout
the immigration process.

The current system is failing
to sufficiently do this and our report calls for an urgent rethink.
We should follow the example of other countries where rates of
detention are much lower and removal rates much higher.

&COPY; Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X.
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